North Syracuse, NY – As 1,200 family, friends and police from across the U.S. and Canada were attending services for New York State Trooper Amanda Anna inside the North Syracuse Baptist Church, Leslie Hearne and a handful of people stood vigil outside on the corner.

Hearne got off from her job working third-shift at the Taft Road post office in North Syracuse at around 8 a.m. Skipping sleep, she stood for hours protected from the rain by an umbrella and wrapped up in a flannel blanket watching Anna’s funeral ceremonies.

Hearne and the others standing on the corner talked about the 31-year-old trooper who died in a car crash while on duty early Saturday. They clucked their tongues and worried about her 4-year-old son. They talked about her sacrifice, and they wondered what was being said about her in the big evangelical church.

Hearne and the others said they felt compelled to honor Anna, who had been a trooper for six years. “I thought it was the right thing to do,” Hearne said.

As Anna’s funeral procession approached the church, Hearne said she and those standing with her saluted. "it was like a soldier's home going," she said.

Hours later, she was still standing under a tree in the rain when Governor Andrew Cuomo and police officers filed out for one final ceremony before Anna’s body would be finally laid to rest in a Fair Haven cemetery.

The officers stood silently at attention as the New York State Troopers Pipes & Drums band marched into a circle.

Three chairs had been set under the church’s awning, for Anna’s mother Florence Wallace, her son Ethan, and fiance Trooper Andrew Lodge.

The troopers from the Hastings barracks where Anna was assigned brought her wooden casket out of the church and into the parking lot.

An honor guard of seven troopers fired off three volleys in a salute and a lone state police helicopter flew low over the church before peeling slowly off toward Syracuse.

A lone piper began playing “Amazing Grace,” followed after the first chorus by the remaining pipes and drums. Family standing nearby shivered in the cold rain, tears trickling down their cheeks and quietly sobbing.

Across from them, 1,000 officers stood somberly at attention.

Troopers lifted the U.S. flag draped over the casket and ceremonially folded it. State Police Superintendent Joseph D’Amico presented the flags, first to Anna’s mother, then her son Ethan, then her fiance. The superintendent knelt and spoke a few words to each.

Assistant Chief Kyle Scarber of the California Highway Patrol presented Anna’s mother with a flag that had been flown over the state capital in Sacramento. He told her that the flag was from all Californians and their law enforcement agencies, Scarber said.

Corporal Veronica Garcia of the Texas Highway Patrol presented her with a Texas state flag.

Troopers then placed Anna’s casket into the hearse, and the family began moving to their cars for the trip to the cemetery.

The officers stood at attention, cold rain pouring down their necks, for 10 minutes until the hearse and cars moved out the lot, and the officer in charge ordered “Detail, dismissed!”

Hearne and the other civilians turned away. “It was moving,” she said.